China: Floods - Jul 1996

The Disaster

A joint release of Mennonite Central Committee and General Conference Mennonite Church

DATE=8/21/96
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-292009
TITLE=CHINA FLOODS (L)
BYLINE=STEPHANIE HO
DATELINE=CHANGSHA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:

INTRO: AS HEAVY FLOODWATERS SLOWLY RECEDE FROM HARD-HIT AREAS OF
SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL CHINA, RESIDENTS TRY TO RESUME THEIR NORMAL
LIVES. VOA'S STEPHANIE HO REPORTS FROM THE SOUTHERN PROVINCE OF
HUNAN, 14-HUNDRED KILOMETERS SOUTH OF BEIJING, WHERE MORE THAN
500 PEOPLE LOST THEIR LIVES AND TENS OF THOUSANDS HAVE NO HOMES.

TEXT: WITH ITS FERTILE, RUSTY-RED EARTH, SOUTHERN CHINA'S HUNAN

Ref: DHAGVA - 96/0282

BEIJING (Aug 13, 1996 1:29 p.m.

UNDP has allocated funds and is coordinating international relief in response to the torrential rains and flooding that have brought catastrophe to parts of China. Blamed already for more than 2,000 deaths, the flooding has also destroyed 2.5 million acres of crops and made tens of thousands homeless. Damages are estimated at US$11 billion. The flooding originally was concentrated in the southern part of the country, but now has spread to central China, as well as to the northern province of Hebei.

THIRD ALERT - Aug. 12, 1996

DATE=8/12/96
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-201574
TITLE=CHINA / FLOODS (S ONLY)
BYLINE=GIL BUTLER
DATELINE=BEIJING
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:

INTRO: CHINESE RELIEF WORKERS AND SOLDIERS ARE CLEANING UP FROM
NEW FLOODING IN THE SOUTHEASTERN PART OF THE COUNTRY. VOA'S GIL
BUTLER REPORTS FROM BEIJING MORE THAN 260 PEOPLE HAVE DIED IN THE
LATEST FLOODS.

TEXT: IN ADDITION TO THE DEATHS, 300 PEOPLE ARE MISSING AND
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS WERE LEFT HOMELESS FROM TWO DAYS OF FLOODS

BEIJING (Reuter) - Floods spawned by torrential rains in southeast China have killed more than 235 people and left 282 missing after some of the worst rains in one coastal county for 500 years, officials said on Sunday.

Several hundred People's Liberation Army troops had been mobilised along with armed police to help with rescue work and to be on alert for more rain as a typhoon headed in from the Pacific towards the southeastern province of Fujian, officials said.

BEIJING (Reuter) - Chinese authorities evacuated about 10,000 people and prepared to blow up dikes and divert a swollen northern river to spare the key city of Tianjin from flooding, officials said on Friday.

The Haihe river and its tributaries were well above normal levels after heavy rain, and dikes west and southwest of Tianjin might have to be blown up to divert water around the city, they said.

''Tianjin must be protected,'' said an anti-flood official by telephone from the major port city.

By Steven Mufson

Would the colossal Three Gorges Dam now under construction on China's Yangtze River have been able to prevent the devastating summer floods that have taken the lives of at least 1,760 people and cost farmers and businesses billions of dollars?

China's government says the $24 billion dam is the key to flood control in the Yangtze River valley, but many experts question whether the dam would have made any difference had it been in operation this summer.

BEIJING (Reuter) - China's rain-swollen Yangtze River rose to record levels, threatening 180,000 people in eastern Jiangsu province, as heavy rains continued to deluge flood-ravaged central areas, official media said on Saturday.

Officials said Typhoon Herb had weakened into a tropical storm, but many areas continued to suffer from high winds and torrential rains whipped up in its deadly wake.

Ref: DHAGVA - 96/0256
SITUATION AND NATIONAL RESPONSE

1. THE MINISTRY OF CIVIL AFFAIRS PROVIDED AN UPDATE ON THE SITUATION IN THE PROVINCES OF HUNAN, HUBEI AND GUANGXI AS OF 24 AND 25 JULY 1996. THE OVERALL IMPACT OF THE FLOODS IS REFLECTED IN THE TABLE BELOW WHICH ALSO INCLUDES INFORMATION ON THE FIVE OTHER MOST SERIOUSLY AFFECTED PROVINCES (AS OF 19 JULY 1996).

MAODOU VILLAGE, China (AP) -- The Red Cross appealed for more medical aid Sunday to prevent cholera and dysentery epidemics along the Yangtze River and its tributaries, where tens of thousands of people have fallen ill amid seasonal flooding.

More than 1,500 people in southern and central China have already died.

Floods in China 1996$

By ELAINE KURTENBACH Associated Press Writer

BEIJING (AP) - The death toll from floods that submerged parts of central and southern China has doubled to at least 1,522, the government said today. Relief groups warned that as the waters recede, diseases will claim more victims.

Seasonal rains that began in late June have soaked nine provinces and regions.

BEIJING (Reuter) - Chinese officials sent out more volunteers Thursday to reinforce exhausted troops lining the Yangtze river as it threatened to burst its banks and warned of epidemics after floods that have killed more than 1,100 people.

''We can't relax our vigilance for an instant,'' an official of the Flood Control Headquarters in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province, said.

In northwestern Xinjiang, officials air-dropped food to residents trapped by some of the worst floods in the desert region for 300 years.

Today, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced that it is providing $137,000 in emergency disaster assistance to China in response to severe floods which have affected more than 10 million people.

Heavy rains in late June and early July inundated the provinces of Anhui, Zhejian, Jiangxi and Guizhou in southern and eastern China, causing severe flooding in many cities and prefectures. More than 100 people are known dead and 448,100 people have been evacuated from the area.

On July 8, U.S.

BEIJING, July 24 (Reuter) - The death toll from devastating floods that have ravaged central and southern China this year has exceeded 1,100 and could climb higher as rivers reach a new flood peak, officials said on Wednesday.

The water level of the Yangtze, Asia's longest river, had receded slightly from a peak of 28.66 metres (94 ft) on Monday, but the danger remained very real, officials said.

''The water is still above the danger level,'' one official said.

THIS APPEAL SEEKS CHF 4,442,000 INCASH AND KIND TO ASSIST 1,200,000BENEFICIARIES FOR 3 MONTHS